TEMECULA: City working on Winchester Road/I-215 shortcut

Motorists use the new French Valley Parkway offramp on the southbound Interstate 15 north of the Winchester Road offramp. An expanded Winchester offramp and the new French Valley Parkway offramp have eased congestion on that stretch of the freeway, according to officials.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

• Caltrans and the city of Temecula have put together a plan that should allow the city to start work on a shortcut connecting Winchester Road with I-215.

• The California Transportation Commission has cut the amount of state funding available for infrastructure projects, which could lead to delays with building the other parts of the massive French Valley Parkway project.

• The French Valley Parkway project was designed to improve traffic flow – and reduce accidents – on I-15 between the I-215 merge and Winchester Road interchange.

The bridge over I-15 will have to wait.

But there has been some movement on the second phase of the French Valley Parkway, a $250 million public works project that was designed to improve traffic flow on the oft-congested stretch of I-15 between the I-215 merge and Winchester Road.

Temecula Assistant City Manager Greg Butler said that the California Department of Transportation has signed off on a plan to chop up the second phase of the massive project into “subphases,” a process that could help the city more easily secure money for construction.

“Since (Caltrans District 8 Director John Bulinski) has been on board, we’ve been able to work with them and identify a subphase that Caltrans would support us moving on first,” he said.

That subphase is the Winchester Road to I-215 shortcut that will allow motorists traveling west on Winchester to drive north to the 215 without getting on I-15.

Butler said it will take a couple of years to complete the design work for the shortcut, which means construction wouldn’t start until the latter part of the decade.

The first phase of the project – a new French Valley Parkway off-ramp on southbound I-15 north of the Winchester interchange and a widened southbound Winchester off-ramp – was completed in April 2014.

The combination has mostly eliminated the long line of cars that used to form ahead of the Winchester exit.

According to data provided by Manuel C. Jabson of the California Department of Transportation, that segment of southbound I-15 averaged 47 crashes in recent years.

The department has not yet compiled the crash data for 2014 and 2015.

Jabson said that it’s “too early to tell” how much of an impact the new off-ramps have had on crashes in the region.

Yet Butler said that the work has eased the congestion south of the junction.

“Just observation-wise, it appears we haven’t noticed a backup into the travel lanes,” Butler said.

“Intuitively, I would have to say accidents have dropped.”

When complete, the French Valley Parkway will feature a new bridge over I-15 that will deliver motorists to the front steps of auto dealers to the east of the freeway.

It also will include “collector-distributor” roads that run parallel to I-15, such as the Winchester-to-I-215 shortcut, that should improve traffic flow.

The price tag for the full second phase has been pegged at $215 million.

The city had hoped to tap into state dollars to pay for a portion of the work, but the California Transportation Commission complicated matters earlier this year by cutting the amount of money available for infrastructure projects.

Butler said the cut in funding may delay construction of the bridge and the project’s other components.

The “French Valley” part of the project’s name refers to the road that will run from the new bridge east to Murrieta Hot Springs and Winchester roads, the gateway to the French Valley part of the county.

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